Take Action Against Repression: Boycott Coke
By Scott Nicholson, MHRN Organizer
During the last three years, the Montana Human Rights Network has been working to broaden our definition of human rights to include economic and social rights -- the right to fair pay and to join unions; and the right to food, housing, health care, and education. It has also been working to develop relations with human rights organizations in other countries. As part of this work, we've developed a sister relationship with the National Food Industry Workers' Union (Sinaltrainal) in Colombia.
Sinaltrainal represents the workers in the Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia, and I spent a month last summer accompanying the leaders of the union in the city of Barrancabermeja. William Mendoza and Juan Carlos Galvis (president and vice president of the local union) and their families have been repeatedly threatened by the right-wing paramilitaries. According to the union, the managers of the Coke bottling plants maintain close relations with the paramilitaries and want to eliminate the union in order to further reduce their labor costs.
In July 2001, the United Steelworkers of America, International Labor Rights Fund, and Sinaltrainal filed a lawsuit against Coke for the murder and repression of union workers. Since 1990, seven leaders of the Coke workers have been killed, and more than 10,000 workers have been dismissed. Now, more than three-fourths of the workers are temporary employees or contractors, many of whom are paid just the minimum wage of $114 per month.
When I returned to Missoula in August 2002, I learned that the University of Montana was negotiating an exclusive contract with Coke. Students at the university, along with the Network, began a campaign to urge the university administration not to sign the contract. On October 24, 2002, we met with Bob Duringer, UM Vice President of Administration and Finance. We expressed our concerns about Coke's labor practices in Colombia and presented him with eight pages of information about specific incidents of repression against the union workers. Duringer responded by saying, "I don't have the luxury of living those values [human rights.]" On December 5, 2002, we delivered petitions to the administration that had been signed by 750 people expressing their opposition to the contract. On December 11, the Associated Students of the University of Montana passed a resolution calling on the administration not to sign the contract. Two days later, the administration signed the contract.
The contract gives Coke a monopoly on the sale of beverage products at the university and enables the corporation to use the university as a marketing tool. Coke can now refer to itself as a "sponsor" of the University of Montana and can use the university's name, teams, logos, and mascots in its advertising. In exchange, Coke will pay the university $303,600 per year -- just one-tenth of one percent of the university's annual budget of $250 million.
This is the third exclusive contract that Duringer has negotiated with Coke. In 1997, as Director of Business Affairs at Oregon State University, he negotiated a nine-year contract. In 1999, as Vice President of Administration and Finance at the University of Maine, he negotiated a ten-year contract.
On February 12, 2003, UM students and the Network announced a boycott of Coca-Cola products in protest of the exclusive contract with the university and Coke's labor practices in Colombia. We encourage you to join the boycott and to inform Coke of your decision by writing Dennis Anderson, Montana Area Manager, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Montana, 2010 S. 3rd W., Missoula, MT 59801.
As William Mendoza said, "Until Coke feels it in their pocket book, our lives are going to continue to be at risk." The Network is bringing Mendoza to Montana for a statewide speaking tour in April.